Help Me, Please
by Kryptonite
Summary: Follows Hermione through her last and final year, through her problems (mental, physical, emotional) and through Hermione's rocky and unwanted introduction to true love. Enjoy.
1. Default Chapter

Help Me, Please

By Kryptonite

A/N: Just the start of an idea I had. Wanted to see if anyone liked it. I have, at least, the next chapter already written and I'm working on the rest. It will eventually be SS/HG, so just take that as a warning. If you don't like that pairing, don't read. For the rest of you, enjoy.

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" AARRRGGGHHHH!" The girl screamed in frustration. The small glass ball in her hand was flung towards the opposite stone wall and shattered on impact. The bushy-haired brunette continued to rage around her Prefect's quarters, thanking any god listening for the silencing charm she had found the previous year.

" How _dare_ he! That stupid, conceited, insolent…" The insults continued to flow from between her red lips as more and more of the room was trashed.

Treasured books were ripped to little pieces, lamps and other glass objects were flung against walls and shattered, curtains were ripped from their hangings, the pillows were slashed and the feathers in the pillows and comforters fell from the sky like fresh snow.

The girl screamed until her voice was harsh and room was completely destroyed. She moved onto her own body thanking a very specific goddess for the ever-heal spell that had been placed upon her body two summers ago.

Airmid, the Celtic goddess of medicinal plants who brings the dead to life again, had placed the spell on the girl when she had cut herself too deep and too much and lay alone on her bedroom floor bleeding her life away.

__

" Get up child."

" Who- who are you?" Hermione whispered in fright as her life-essence came rushing back to her. All the sights, sounds, and colors that had dulled down to black suddenly came back into crystal clarity.

" I am the Goddess Airmid. You are being given a gift."

" Wha- what is it?" Hermione was quaking, pressed up against her huge four-poster bed.

" An ever-heal spell, child."

" Does that mean I'll never die?" Hermione's eyes lost any flicker of hope they once had at that idea.

" Dying should not be that important to you. But, no, you will die. Eventually."

" I don't want it!" She cried suddenly, eyes wide with fright, sitting straight up.

" If that is how you feel." Hermione felt the drag of her life as the cuts reopened and the blood poured from them faster than ever. The celestial being in front of her started to fade out, a sad pitying look on her face.

" Wait!" Hermione croaked out, her life falling from her grasp with frightening speed.

" I thought so." The girl blacked out before Airmid could do any more for her.

" Snap out of it Hermione!" The girl scolded herself. Quickly crossing the room to the alter under the window, she lit a stick of incense and muttered a quick thank you as her arms healed up, leaving not a trace of scars or blood. 'Ugh! I hate this!' She thought when she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

" Glamour off." She snapped, not bothering to look at the altered image. " Homework, homework." She muttered. " Oh screw this. Reparo." She said, pointing her wand around her room. Everything glittered for a few seconds and with a bright flash of light was back in its proper forms and places.

" Hermione?" Ginny's voice called through the portrait. Hermione looked up from her pile of finished homework in fear.

" Just a minute! Glamour on." She whispered the last part in a hurry and rushed over to the altar, putting out the incense and covering the table. " Come in." She breathed, once she was settled at her desk.

" Hey. You missed dinner. Ron and Harry are worried but they, obviously, can't get up here." Ginny grinned, remembering the last time Ron and Harry had tried to go up the girl's dormitory steps.

" Guess that means they still haven't found the other entrance then?" Hermione sighed. " No, I don't suppose they would have."

" Guess it kinda stinks having to stupid idiots for friends huh?" Ginny said wistfully.

" Ginny! That's your brother you're talking about!" Hermione very convincingly worked up enough emotion to sound shocked and angry.

" You've said it yourself a time or two." Hermione stared off into space, mentally reviewing her words for the past seven years.

" Yeah, I guess I have. Still, you shouldn't say that."

Ginny shrugged, " Why not? He's an idiot." Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled anyway.

" Did you need something?" She asked the girl, already thinking of re-lighting the incense and rechecking her Potions essay for the fourth or fifth dozen time.

" Just wanted to ask if I could borrow that red halter top you brought with you from home." Hermione perked up at the request.

" Would this be another one of those not-quite-so-secret rendezvous with a certain 'Prince Charming'?"

Ginny blushed and nodded her head. Hermione laughed, really laughed, and dragged the girl into her room and shut the door.

" Come on, we have just enough time to make you, Virginia Weasley, a total one-hundred percent knockout." Hermione and Ginny started giggling as they discussed clothes and color-schemes.

%~%~%

" That should do it." Hermione said, wiping her hands off on her jeans.

" Thank you 'Mione." Ginny made to hug her but Hermione held up her hands.

" Don't want to smudge the make up do you?" Ginny shook her head and Hermione motioned her out the door. Ginny headed straight for the portrait leading to the Gryffindor Common Room before Hermione leaped for her, dragging her to the other entrance.

" Nononono, no, no, no, that is, unless you want to be caught by Ron." Ginny shook her head again and went out the other entrance. " Didn't think so." Hermione muttered before turning back to the desk.

'I have so much work to do. I'm so tired. Maybe I'll just lay down for a minute.' Hermione went to rest on her huge four poster bed, pulling the curtains closed around her. A minute turned into an hour and an hour turned into eight hours.

" 'Mione wake up!" She vaguely registered someone pulling on her arm. " Come on 'Mione wake up!"

" Goavay." She slurred, trying to turn over and away from her assailant.

" Hermione Granger you wake up this instant!" Hermione sat bolt upright in bed, eyes wide thinking her mother was standing over her. " Glad you decided to rejoin the living." Ginny remarked dryly.

" Don't do that!" Hermione snapped, instantly regretting giving Ginny the password to her chambers.

" I'm extremely sorry _princess_ but you missed breakfast and if you don't move it your going to miss potions." Ginny answered, checking her watch to be sure. Hermione flew from the bed and into the bathroom, her bag collecting itself, clothes flying through the open door. " I have to go!" Ginny called, skipping from the room into the empty common room.

'I can't believe this!' Hermione's thoughts screeched as she raced down the halls to the dungeons. Cuts and scraps she gathered from falling and stumbling healed instantly, leaving small bloody patches on her clothes. She managed to make it to the door out of breath just as class started.

" I'm glad to see that you decided to join us." Severus Snape didn't bother to look from the record book where he recorded attendance, grades and points gained and lost.

" I'm sorry sir. I-" Hermione stopped knowing he wouldn't want an excuse. She made her way to the empty seat next to Harry and Ron and simply gave up.

" What? No excuse? No pathetic attempt to worm your way out of losing points?" Snape jeered in her direction. She stared coldly up at him.

" No matter what I say you'll take away points. It's what you do and what the students have come to expect." Hermione said calmly, her mind still detached from what she was saying.

" Fifty points for being late and your insolence. Also, detention Wednesday night with Filch." He sneered moving back to the front of the room as Hermione's glazed eyes trailed after him.

She sighed and tried to pull her mind out of the quagmire it had sunk itself into. It was never a good idea to have your mind three steps behind what you were supposed to be doing. Hermione woke up just in time to save Neville, again, but ended up almost burning her hand to a crisp in the process.

Trying to hide the furious blisters long enough for them to heal, her cauldron managed to start frothing and she hurriedly picked up the spoon to stir the broth until it stopped being so volatile. Checking her hand, she breathed a sigh of relief when it looked exactly like it was supposed to without even a little bit of shiny pink skin to show it had been burnt.

" Thanks Hermione." Neville managed to breathe once he had eaten lunch in the Great Hall. Remembering the pain from burning her hand, Hermione barely stopped herself before she bared her teeth and hissed.

" No problem Neville." Her smile was forced but no one seemed to notice.

" Come on, we got Transfiguration next. You know how McGonagall gets when we're late." Hermione continued to trudge behind her friends, trying to make her way through the crowd to Transfiguration.

" Well, well, well. If it isn't famous Harry Potter and his little friends, I mean, worshippers." Draco Malfoy tried to smirk from where he blocked the doorway.

" Move it Malfoy." Harry said, trying to stand in front of Ron so, should Ron decide to charge, he had a better chance of stopping him.

" Why should I? By the way we have a substitute." By the look on his face you knew it was one the Gryffindors weren't going to like.

" Because we need to get into class." Harry and Ron decided to ignore the substitute remark and focus on Malfoy.

" Oh, too bad." He sneered dodging into the room as the bell rang for class.

" Shit!" Harry and Ron swore together as they moved for the door to find it closing and locking in front of them.

" I do not tolerate late students." A voice from behind the trio spoke, causing them to turn around. Ron started to protest when Hermione clamped a hand firmly over his mouth, shutting him up.

" Ma'am I understand that it's imperative for us to be on time." Hermione spoke easily to the teacher, knowing how she would react. " But the doorway was blocked until the last second by Mr. Draco Malfoy and his friends Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. I'm extremely sorry and it won't happen again."

" Of course it won't Ms Granger. You two inside, I wish to speak to Ms Granger alone."

Ron and Harry walked through the door, after looking back at Hermione once to make sure she was okay.

" Is there something I can help you with?"

" Dumbledore wants to see you in his office. The password is 'Peanut Brittle'."

" Yes ma'am." Hermione started trudging off in the direction of Dumbledore's office. The new teacher just shook her head and entered her unusually silent classroom. 'What could Dumbledore possibly want with me?'

%~%~%

" So why weren't you in Transfiguration?"

" Nothing much." Hermione lied, poking at her food on her plate but not really eating it.

" Oh come on. Miss Know-it-all Hermione Granger missed class for 'nothing much'?"

Hermione gritted her teeth and couldn't keep the anger from her voice. " Yes Ron and don't talk with your mouth full." Ron stopped in mid-chew and opened his jaw wide, showing all the half-chewed pieces of food residing in there. Hermione instantly stood and ran to go throw up in the bathroom.

" You idiot." Ginny yelled at her astonished brother, whose mouth was still hanging open.

" Wha?" He asked, yelling after her. Ginny had gotten up to follow Hermione out the door.

'Well. This is an interesting turn of events.' The thinker turned back to his plate of food and immediately put his fork back down as he felt someone in his mind. _'Get out'_

No one answered and he turned back to his food, content to believe for the moment that they were gone.

%~%~%

" Hermione are you okay?"

" Just go away." She moaned from inside the stall in the girls' washroom on the first floor.

" She's absolutely dreadful!" Myrtle proclaimed, more than a little overjoyed.

" Oh buzz off Myrtle." Ginny made the mistake of treating Myrtle like a normal teenage girl. Myrtle's face screwed up and she started wailing. Within seconds the bathroom floor was underwater. " Oh Myrtle stop it! Just stop it!" Ginny wailed, wanting to cry herself.

" Go away!" Myrtle yelled, swooping down at Ginny. Ginny screeched and ran out the door to avoid the waterspout that tried to engulf her. " That okay?"

" Yes Myrtle thank you so much."

" No problem." Hermione said, stepping from the stall and looking very pale and shaky.

" So what was wrong?"

" Nothing." She replied dismissive-ly as she walked from the bathroom.

" Fine. Don't tell me." Myrtle said, crossing her arms over her see-through chest before doing a back flip into a u-bend.

%~%~%

Hermione peered around the corner, hoping against hope that no one was around to see her sneak out.

" And just where do you think you are going Ms. Granger." Hermione turned towards the voice thinking, _The fates must abso-bloody-lutely hate my guts._


	2. Surprise, Surprise

Help Me, Please

By Kryptonite

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in forever and also sorry that this is so much shorter than my last chapter.

%~%~%

" Outside for a visit to Hagrid. I need to ask him about a homework assignment." She tried her hardest not to let Snape know she was in pain. The charm around her neck was burning and getting heavier every minute.

" It's past curfew." He sneered, immediately noting the look of discomfort in the girl's face.

" But it's really important sir." Hermione gasped as the charm became heavier and started to press heavily against her windpipe. Snape narrowed his eyes at his student as she tried to get more air into her lungs.

" I think we should go to the hospital wing." He started, inching towards the girl who was trying to pull a choker necklace farther from her throat. She looked up and for a brief instant Snape could see all the pain and fear she hid from the world.

" Please. I just need- need to-" Snape took a step back.

" Go." She smiled briefly before wincing again in pain.

" Thank you sir." Hermione stumbled out of the doors and Snape waited ten seconds before following the wayward seventh year. He paused in the door when he saw her stop and look around before speaking.

" Glamour off." A small shine of glitter passed over her body as she started walking and he was surprised at the changes. Coming back to reality he managed to start walking before she got too far away.

He followed her all the way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest then paused for two seconds and followed the girl in.

" Kevin!" She started screaming once they were pretty far in. Tears of pain and anger could be heard in her echoing voice. " Kevin please! Please don't!" Severus Snape's heart panged at the sound of her voice, hurt, lost and confused in the darkness.

'This can't be the same Know-it-all from my class.'

" I see you made it." A quiet voice said from just in front of the teacher. He stopped and a light from a fire appeared between the branches, illuminating the scene before him. Snape started sneaking around bushes and trees, staying as quiet as he could, trying to get a better look at the situation.

" Please." She choked out. Once more, Severus's heart did an unexpected flip-flop. " Take it off." It sounded like she was choking, which Hermione was.

" This little necklace is so ingenious, isn't it?" The boy, Kevin, appeared to take amusement from Hermione's harm. The area of skin around the red-hot charm started to smoke and Hermione used up the last of her air to scream in pain. " Fine, fine, Lei sono rilasciati." He muttered, Hermione's breath came back and she stayed there, laying in the dirt gasping for air before Kevin grabbed the girls' hair and pulled her into a sitting position.

The fear was evident on Hermione's face. The firelight glinted off of Kevin's face, distorting his features and making his smile seem even more maniacal. " I've been wanting to do this for some time." He brought a blade out and wrenched Hermione's arm towards him. He watched while she struggled, and then sliced the blade across her skin from her wrist to the inside of her elbow.

Hermione screamed and the tears started as Kevin forced the blade back the way he came, plunging it deeper with every row.

" What? Can't heal it? You're a pathetic excuse for a witch. You little bitch."

At this the blade went with Kevin's hand across Hermione's face which not only caused her to fall to the ground but also managed to slice her face straight across both her cheekbones, just barely missing her eyes. The blood poured from her wounds and Kevin kicked her soundly a few times in the ribs. Snape could hear her ribs crack from where he was standing.

" I'll be back." He whispered, leaning close over the sobbing girl before disappearing into the shadows. The fire died out as suddenly as it had appeared, but Severus waited a moment before rushing to the girl sprawled in the moonlit clearing.

He tried to control his surprise as he saw the slash across her face healing, not leaving a single mark behind. The blood that had seeped from the cut seemed to be absorbed back into the skin. Pulling her arm towards him he noticed that it as well was scar and bloodless.

" Professor?" Hermione breathed out, the healing taking its own toll on her body.

" Up we go." He said, picking up Hermione's feather-light frame.

" Profess-" Snape shushed her as he quickly and quietly made his way out of the Forbidden Forest, avoiding contact with any roaming centaurs. By the time they made it into the entrance hall Hermione was feeling better.


End file.
